[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 79 (Monday, May 24, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E919]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HONORING THE MEMORY OF ERNIE HARWELL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE QUIGLEY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 24, 2010

  Mr. QUIGLEY. Madam Speaker, in Ernie Harwell's famous definition of 
baseball, he wrote that it was ``just a game, as simple as a ball and 
bat; yet as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes.'' There was 
nothing complex, however, about what one of baseball's most iconic 
broadcasters meant to us all. Ernie lent his voice to one of America's 
deepest loves for more than 50 years, most of them calling games for 
his beloved Detroit Tigers. He passed away a few short weeks ago at the 
age of 92.
  Ernie brought Tiger Stadium into Michigan living rooms from Hamtramck 
to Bloomfield, and made the old ballpark at the corner of Michigan and 
Trumbull feel like a neighborhood sandlot. He'd call out the hometowns 
of fans who caught foul balls as if he knew all 35,000 of them by name. 
The beauty of his commentary was in its understated grace--simple, 
earnest, and full of insight. Ernie was the rare broadcaster who made 
you feel like you were in the stadium. He'd tell you the score at least 
once a minute, but never fell victim to the need to hear himself speak. 
A silence filled with the hum of the crowd and the call of a vendor was 
almost as important to his broadcast style as the vignettes from every 
era of the game that peppered his play-by-play.
  For Ernie's faithful listeners spring was a time of hope and rebirth, 
as he welcomed four decades of spring training seasons with a familiar 
Psalm: ``For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the 
flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, 
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.'' It is the kind of 
hope we can all relate to, especially fans of a certain team in my 
district who believe that every year might just be ``next year.''
  When Ernie retired from broadcasting in a moving on-field ceremony in 
2002, he told us ``rather than say good-bye, please allow me to say 
thank you.'' Today, it's our turn. Thank you, Ernie, for all the 
memories. You will be missed.

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